Uchechi Iweala, MD
Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine · Potomac, MDNPI 1417376989
Payments from drug & device makers
What this record shows
This record is dominated by travel and lodging: $6,473 of the $9,026 with a category attached, or 71.7%. Alphatec Spine, Inc accounts for 63.4% of it on its own, with 17 other manufacturers making up the rest. Reporting peaked in 2021 at $5,261 and has fallen 97.2% since, to $147 in 2025. That places this record below the midpoint for orthopaedic surgery of the spine clinicians in MD, where the typical reported total is $9,922.
Across 64 payments — averaging $141.03 each. Meals, travel, consulting and speaking fees, gifts and royalties reported by drug and device makers.
- Alphatec Spine, Inc$6K
- Stryker$2K
- Supreme Orthopedic Systems, LLC$467
- Globus Medical$270
- Medtronic$227
- Arteriocyte Medical Systems, Inc.$216
- plus $574 from 12 others
What the payments were for
- Travel & lodging$6,47372%
- Food & beverage$2,33426%
- Education$2192%
General payments by program year
Who reported the general payments
Companies are grouped under their corporate parent — a single manufacturer often files under several CMS reporting entities. Research and ownership payments are counted separately and are not in this table.
| Company | Payments | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Alphatec Spine, Inc | 9 | $5,722 |
| Stryker | 20 | $1,549 |
| Supreme Orthopedic Systems, LLC | 2 | $467 |
| Globus Medical(2 entities) | 7 | $270 |
| Medtronic(2 entities) | 8 | $227 |
| Arteriocyte Medical Systems, Inc. | 2 | $216 |
| Sanara Medtech Inc. | 2 | $180 |
| Orthofix Medical, Inc. | 4 | $124 |
| Centinel Spine, LLC | 1 | $49 |
| Spine Wave, Inc. | 1 | $35 |
| Intrinsic Therapeutics | 1 | $33 |
| Smith+Nephew | 1 | $33 |
| Heron Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $26 |
| Pacira Therapeutics, Inc. | 1 | $23 |
| Zimmer Biomet | 1 | $22 |
| Medicrea USA, Corp. | 1 | $22 |
| Vertex | 1 | $17 |
| Precision Medical Products Inc. | 1 | $10 |
What the payments were tied to
Products named in the reported payments. Only payments of $100 or more are attributed here — the typical reported payment nationally is a meal worth about $16, and listing those product-by-product would be noise.
- Other - Miscellaneous$4,745
- EVEREST SPINAL SYSTEM$525
- NONE$348
- Magellan$183
- YUKON OCT SPINAL SYSTEM$130
- CellerateRx$121
How this compares
$9,026 in reported general payments places this provider in the 45th percentile of 49 orthopaedic surgery of the spine providers in Maryland.
See all orthopaedic surgery of the spine providers in Maryland →
Medicare billing
What this is not: this is the amount Original Medicare Part B allowed for services this provider billed in 2024. It is not their income. It excludes Medicare Advantage — now more than half of all Medicare enrollment — along with Medicaid and all commercial insurance, and it is gross practice revenue before staff, rent, supplies and malpractice premiums. CMS also suppresses any figure covering ten or fewer patients, so low-volume providers appear smaller than they are.
Most prescribed under Part D
| Drug | Claims | Cost to plans & patients |
|---|---|---|
| Gabapentin | 52 | $365 |
| Methylprednisolone | 35 | $288 |
| Meloxicam | 33 | $210 |
| Ibuprofen | 15 | $108 |
Paid to pharmacies, not to this prescriber.
Other orthopaedic surgery of the spine in Potomac
- John CarboneBaltimore$25M
- Steven LudwigBaltimore$2.7M
- Joseph ObrienBethesda$2.4M
- Paul McAfeeBaltimore$2.2M
- Ira FedderTowson$1.1M
- Scott McGovernSalisbury$431K
- Amit JainBaltimore$250K
- Andrew MoOlney$166K
- Navinder SethiBethesda$114K
- Mesfin LemmaBaltimore$47K
Where these figures come from
- Payments: CMS Open Payments, program years 2019–2025 (publication P06302026_06032026).
- Billing: Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners, data year 2024. Original Medicare Part B only.
- Identity: NPPES NPI Registry, July 2026.